’Cats find there’s not much room at the top

DURHAM – Some say it’s easier getting to the top than staying there and taking everyone’s best shot.

The University of New Hampshire hockey team found that out first-hand with Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Boston University at the Whittemore Center.

The Wildcats’ second setback of the season and first in more than a month came just three days after they were ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in almost six years.

“I think you do get a little satisfied,” said senior forward John Henrion. “It’s part of what it is. You have a target on your back and everyone’s chasing you now. I don’t think it really affected us that much though. We know what kind of hockey we’ve got to play whether we’re 10, 5 or 1. That’s what we came out to do in the second and third period. I think it was more of a 40-minute effort compared to what we have been playing in the past, and it hurt us.”

For the second time in two weeks UNH fell behind 3-0. The Wildcats were able to scratch out a 6-4 win against then No. 2 Denver on the road Nov. 24.

They weren’t as fortunate against the No. 7 Terriers, who withstood a late power play and avoided a regular-season sweep.

Down by three, the Wildcats managed to pull within one on a goal by Kevin Goumas in the second period and another by Henrion in the third.

“I think we’re really composed this year,” Henrion said. “It starts from the top down. Everyone is confident. We get down a couple goals and we don’t really panic which is good. We couldn’t get that third one with all the chances we had.

“I think it shows the character we have on the team,” Henrion added. “We’re not afraid to attack and get back in the game.”

It was the second time in a week BU knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation. They also defeated Boston College on Nov. 30.

Depending on results this weekend the Wildcats stay at the top could be shortlived.

“Everyone’s out to get you when you’re No. 1,” Goumas said. “You can’t say that when you’re in the back of the pack. We were on nobody’s radar coming into the season. We fought our way all the way up there. I think everyone realized how good we were. Everyone’s going to be out to get us eventually.”

They’ll have to wait a while, however.

The Wildcats don’t play again until Dec. 30 when they meet intra-state rival Dartmouth in Hanover, although they have an exhibition on Sunday (4 p.m.) against the U.S. under-18 national squad at the Whitt.

UNH doesn’t resume Hockey East play until Jan. 11-12 when it meets BC in a home-and-home series.

The Wildcats go into the Christmas break with an 11-2-2 overall record and an 8-2-1 mark in the league.

“I told the guys it was still a good first half,” coach Dick Umile said after Thursday’s loss. “We’ve just got to trust each other over the break, come back and start off the second half like we started off the first half.”

UNH opened the season with a four-game win streak at home to set the tone. The first half was highlighted by a five-game stretch in the Wildcats posted four shutouts.

UNH is off to its best start since the 1968-69 team opened 14-2. BU snapped the Wildcats’ eight-game unbeaten streak Thursday night.

Although one of the Wildcats’ goals came on the power play, they were 1 for 9 with the man advantage. They had 13 shots on goal during 14 minutes, 16 seconds of power-play time.

Freshman goalie Matt O’Connor finished with 31 saves for BU.

“I think there was pretty good goaltending,” Umile said. “We were moving the puck. We had a lot of zone time. We just didn’t execute and make plays. You’ve got to give BU credit. Goaltending is always a big part of penalty killing. He made some saves and they blocked a lot of shots.”

O’Connor made a nice glove save on Goumas from the right circle with 13.4 seconds left in the third period.

“There was some traffic,” Goumas said, “but I could definitely see a clear path to the goalie. Maybe if I got it up a little higher. It was low. I think he got a pretty good view of it. It was just so late in the game you just want to get pucks to the net.”

“He came up with some big saves in the third period when we had a chance to tie it up,” Umile said. “We had a couple good looks.”